‘Operation MMMBop’: A Mission to Have Hanson at Her Wedding

Stephanie Lewis, 27, of New York City, remembers hearing the oh-so-blond boy band “Hanson” for the first time like it was yesterday.

“I was home from school when ‘MMMBop’ came out,” she said of the 1997 pop-rock song. “I remember watching MTV and I remember the song. It was bubble-gum pop all the way. That was so my kind of music. I went upstairs after watching the video and began digging deep into my Hanson research.”

Lewis said she was so crazy about the boys that she knew “every piece of information there was to know about them,” even down to the color of their toothbrushes. “My walls were covered in posters,” she said. “My mom would bribe me, ‘If you do well on your math test, I’ll buy you a new Hanson poster.’ There was no wallpaper anymore. I had to start using my ceiling and bathroom. I had to start keeping folders.”

But now Lewis has grown up and “normalized a little bit,” she said, although some of her friends and co-workers might beg to differ. Despite her engagement to fiancé David Kiderman, 31, Lewis can’t seem to forget the first loves of her life, the Hanson brothers.

Therefore, it only seems natural that Lewis is on a mission to get the band to show up at her wedding.

“I just think it would be crazy if they showed up,” she said. “My co-workers jumped on the bandwagon and ended up making the Facebook page. They thought this could be huge. It’s just sort of our grassroots movement to start the revolution.”

Dubbed “Operation Mmmbop Wedding,” the page has upwards of 100 “likes”‘ and continues to grow steadily since its creation July 20. The site boasts, “If we band together and manage to get enough likes that this page is brought to Hanson’s attention, MAYBE they’ll come to Steph’s wedding!!!”

Lewis said her dreams would come true if the Hanson brothers actually would make an appearance.

“It doesn’t seem they have anything planned for October 20,” she said. “Or at least it’s not on their website. My wedding is smack dab in the middle of L.A. If they just happened to be in L.A., I have a lot of free food and booze.”

Lewis realizes that the boys are all grown up and have families of their own, but when asked whether their wives would also be able to attend the wedding, she quickly added, “Their wives and children are not invited. I’m sure they’re lovely people, but no, they’re not invited.”

That probably isn’t music to the ears of middle Hanson brother, Taylor Hanson, though. People magazine reported today that Hanson, 29, and wife Natalie are expecting their fifth child later this year, a girl, and are in search for a name.

Nonetheless, Lewis will survive if the band doesn’t show, but also doesn’t want to dispel her excitement at the possibility that they would.

“We have a wedding band already,” she said. “I didn’t anticipate that this whole thing would blow up. You can probably pay for appearances by Hanson, but if I paid for it, that just takes all of the joy out of the grassroots movement. I like doing it from the ground up and campaigning. It’s not an accomplishment to write a check to Hanson’s manager.”

Lewis’ fiancé is apparently fine with all the Hanson-hoopla.

“He’s supportive,” she said. “He told me, ‘As long as we’re going down this road, let’s get Rihanna.’ He and his friends think it’s very funny. And they do know if Hanson showed up, it would be random and amazing and would make all my childhood dreams come true.”